I can't remember when, exactly, I first started chatting online with artist Randy Glass about Richard Amsel's work, but when we finally met over dinner in North Hollywood earlier this year, I was immediately taken by his stories of working as an illustrator during the twilight of traditional illustration in the mid '80s..
Yesterday I finally interviewed Randy at his home. While he didn't know Richard Amsel personally, he was a huge fan of his work -- an even did a number of illustrations in "The Amsel Style" to meet the demands of marketing and executive suits. Such was Amsel's influence at that time.
But make no mistake -- Randy Glass is hardly a copycat artist. He's formed a distinctive style that's very much his own, working for clients from AARP to Yamaha. His pen and ink drawings are especially marvelous, with pointillism so detailed and gradients so subtle that even from a small distance you'd think you were looking at a watercolor painting. I simply don't know how the hell he does it.
Take, for example, this portrait of Michael J. Fox. The original drawing is smaller than what appears here -- yup, that's how detailed it is!
